Belgian Peacekeepers Memorial

Kigali City, Rwanda

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The Belgian Peacekeepers Memorial in Kigali is a small but powerful site that commemorates ten Belgian UN soldiers killed in the first hours of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi while protecting Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana.

Located at the former Camp Kigali military base near the city center, the memorial preserves the bullet-scarred building where the soldiers made their final stand and features ten stone pillars, each representing one of the men and marked to reflect his age.

Their murder led to the withdrawal of Belgian troops and a sharp weakening of UN presence in Rwanda, so the memorial also serves as a reminder of the tragic consequences when international peacekeeping efforts fail. Today it is a quiet, reflective place visited as part of Kigali’s genocide remembrance sites, offering visitors space to learn, mourn, and think about responsibility during times of conflict.